BYERA: Arrival of Africans to the shore of Yurumein. Greetings exchanged with indigenous Byera peoples.
Company of dancers. Split of 2 groups uniting

LAND OF THE SACRED: Centre of the Carib Republic, Hairoun is displayed as Land of the Sacred.
Ritual dance of the gods, goddesses, towns-people. Peace; calm; prosperity; contentment

WAR COUNCIL OF CHATUYE: paramount chief summons the Council of War to expel the British from Yurumein.
Dance summons, prep war dance. Chatuye, Chiefs, towns-people.

LA CROIX ON FIRE: Signals the beginning of war. Soldier sides of the Garinagu and British. La Croix is elaborately prepared for torching prior to the burning. Fire dance and Full fledged war dance, British call in reinforcements to immediate transition to exile.

EXILE TO RUATAN: 'Escaping into exile' Warrior dancers flee the scene of battle, surrender in parts and elude their captors etc. State of settling down in foreign parts and building homes, starting livelihoods etc.

KEEPERS OF THE FLAME: Celebratory dance of ritual and rites. The culture of the Garinagu is firmly planted wherever it settles. Energy-packed finish by entire company.

back

GARINAGU 200
Journeys of the Black Caribs

1. Rider of the tide
2. Carib of Yuruméin
3. Garifuna Warrior
4. Soldier of Invasion
5. Exile to Roatan
6. Keeper of the Flame

RIDERS OF THE TIDES

Long before Columbus sailed across the Atlantic Ocean, African seafarers pushed their boats beyond the foaming surf of the West African coast into the blue open seas and rode the tides that took them westwards across the GREAT OCEAN. With the tradewinds on their backs to drive them onwards, they sailed to the lands we now know as the Americas and Caribbean.
In 1302, four hundred sailing crafts left the ancient African Kingdom of MALI and sailed westwards. Legend has it that this was the beginnings of GARINAGU.

CARIBS OF YURUMEIN

On arrival in the Caribbean, many Africans landed on the island of Yuruméin (St. Vincent) where they met another group of fiercely independent seafaring people. These were the CARIBS, a group of river people from the ORINOCO BASIN of South America. The Caribs were settled from Trinidad in the south to as far north as St. Kitts, with Yuruméin as the centre of the CARIB REPUBLIC and the LAND OF THE SACRED. The CARIBS and the AFRICANS mixed together and became an united people, creating the GARIFUNA culture. Brave warriors and skilled seafarers, unafraid to defend their land and their freedom.

GARIFUNA WARRIORS

By the early 1600's, the French and the English began colonising the surrounding islands causing the Caribs to flee to Yuruméin (St. Vincent). They imported Africans to cultivate the mainly sugar plantations, keeping them in the most brutal and cruel form of slavery. Many of the Africans escaped and joined the Garinagu. This was becoming a threat to the Europeans, who were determined to capture Yuruméin.
From the 1700's onwards, the GARINAGU successfully defended their island on more than one occasion. Tired of the continual encroachments, they planned an attack on the English invaders, which began on SUNDAY, MARCH 8, 1795.

SOLDIERS OF INVASION

The attitude of the English was to get rich quickly, therefore their greed showed very little tolerance. They were satisfied with nothing less than subjugation of the GARINAGU. They set about settling on the lands without the consent of the GARINAGU, thus creating a situation of continual tensions that broke out in hostilities. Then in June 1796, the English sent in six columns of over 4000 soldiers of invasion to remove the GARINAGU from Yuruméin. Within days the GARINAGU had surrendered. Many were imprisoned on the neighbouring island of Balliceaux to await transportation to ROATAN.

EXILE TO ROATAN

Defeated and dispossessed many Garinagu died on Balliceaux, where they lived in over-crowded conditions, making it easier to contract diseases, they also lacked fresh water and the food supply was very poor. The humiliation was cruel. Then on MARCH 11, 1797, they were made to embark on a ship called "EXPERIMENT" for ROATAN, an island off the coast of Honduras.
Within months the Garinagu had rebuilt their canoes and the great majority had crossed over to the mainland of Honduras, taking with them their language, their culture, their customs and their traditions.

KEEPERS OF THE FLAME

More than 200 years later the 2000 Garifuna that arrived in ROATAN have prospered, their numbers having grown between 75,000 and 85,000 people. Their settlements have spread out along the Caribbean coast of Central America, in Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala, Belize, Mexico and the United States of America. Trujillo in Honduras remains their "capital" with Dangriga in Belize as their cultural centre.
It was here in Dangriga that the GARINAGU laid down their weapons and are setting about regaining their nationhood and striving for higher educational opportunities and preserving the freedom they have struggled to keep.

back